ABC7 Sports: Noah’s Notes

Sox to Sarasota? Proposition Dead!

It may have been a while since I’ve written, but no apology here…very little has actually happened in the Sox Spring Training Saga.  Local headlines may have you believing otherwise, but all the rumors and “possibilities” as the Sox were negotiating with Sarasota and Lee County were just that….until today.

The City of Sarasota just released an important email….here are excerpts:

“Sarasota County and the City of Sarasota agreed today to end negotiations with the Boston Red Sox over a possible relocation of their spring training complex to Sarasota…The City, County and Red Sox worked cooperatively and in good faith to reach an agreement on the development of a spring training and player development complex in Sarasota.  Unfortunately, the parties have not been able to reach an agreement on the key terms and conditions for the project.  Current economic and credit market conditions have limited the funding resources available for the development of the complex

I try not to say, “told you so”…but didn’t we?

For the past six months, ABC 7 has been the only media organization to approach this story responsibly.  We’ve avoided the sensationalism and refused to get caught up in the excitement of the scare.  We’ve been sorting through the rumors to always present you with the big picture - accurately.

In the end, Sarasota can paint the picture of a valient effort foiled by the credit crunch.  It isn’t entirely untrue, but when it comes down to it, they got played by the Red Sox for leverage.

As we wrote four months ago on June 13, Sarasota never had the land nor the money to give the Sox what they wanted - a “Tier One” facility for a “Tier One” team.  However, what they gave Boston was just as important - as we wrote five months ago on May 28 - leverage to get a fully-funded mega-sports and entertainment complex in Lee Co.

How about this June 13 prediction in this very same space?

I expect the competition to reap big benefits for the Sox. I think Sarasota will manage to put together an offer somewhat short of their $70M vision and Lee Co. will retaliate with a deal for a new Sox stadium - bigger and fancier than City of Palms Park - sometime next decade. It should keep the team, its $30M+ annual impact, and its huge charity donations in Lee Co. through 2030 or so.

Leverage has always been key to the saga.  When Sarasota was struggling with the proposal early in the summer, Sox COO Mike Dee took a trip to Orlando to give the impression that moving to Disney was a possibility.  And, don’t be surprised if he does it again.  ABC 7 sports anchor Evan Fitzgerald spoke to officials from the team this morning who - despite Sarasota’s withdrawal - still wouldn’t say that they were focused on just Lee Co.

When two cities play tug-of-war over a team, the only winner is the team.  The Red Sox will surely get a fully-funded “Tier One” facility much sooner than anyone would have originally figured…possibly 2012.

Meanwhile, the negotiations for a new facility continue in Lee Co., with commissioners scheduled to discuss finances on Oct. 21.  They plan to then present their ideas to team officials on Oct. 28, but the timeline could be bumped up.  ABC 7 reporter Max Turnier found out this morning that the Sox will be coming to town tomorrow, Oct. 15 to look at possible new spring training sites.

So where to?

While it is still possible the county could upgrade City of Palms Park - a very nice home by most standards - it is more likely the Sox get a new home somewhere near the I-75 corridor. They want to be near the airport, the highway, and open land to build additional revenue-makers like a hotel, a mall, and year-round entertainment. You can read more about it here.

Of the dozens of scenarios that remain out there for Lee Co., the one that could be the most interesting is a complex near Florida Gulf Coast University. It would be convenient to the airport and exploding Gulf Coast Town Center, and - depending on the size and shape of the stadium - could provide FGCU a place to create a football team in coming years.

This story isn’t over yet…but Sarasota’s participation in it seems to be.

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Sox to Sarasota? Not for $55M…

News out of Sarasota today is that the county will begin direct negotiations with the Red Sox on Friday. That’s the good news for our friends to the north.

The bad news is that Sarasota tells us they’ve got $55M to work with. Anything more than that would basically have to come from private sources or the Sox.

It’s an impressive feat that the city and county up there have gotten this far…but it is still well short of what the Sox will demand. As we’ve said before, the world champs think they deserve a world-class facility built for them. Not a nice one for $55M…and not a $100M facility where they have to pay for half themselves.

They want a brand-new, completely-funded, state-of-the-art complex, and - in this economy - the only way that will happen is with help from a private developer. Lee Co. claims they’ve got a handful to work with…Sarasota may need to find a few in the bottom of the 9th here to make the deal make any sense (or cents).

Meanwhile, in Ft. Myers, the local Rotary Club held a public meeting to raise more support for a new complex. It was little more than a made-for-TV pep rally, but we learned some interesting things.

1) Lee County CAN play the PR game! As we’ve explained before, Sarasota hasn’t been working harder to get the Sox…they’ve merely been publicizing their efforts better. Rep. Nick Thompson (R-Ft. Myers) told me that “our community needs to know that our community leaders have been working behind-the-scenes to try and make sure the Red Sox stay here…now we’re coming out and we’re in front of the scenes.”

2) John Yarbrough, Lee Co.’s long-time Parks & Rec director, will continue to act as the county’s “point-man” to the Red Sox negotiations…even though he just retired from his job. County Commissioner Ray Judah says he’s currently working pro-bono and when negotiations heat up, he’ll be hired back on as a consultant.

3) The number of potential sites for a new mega-sports/entertainment Sox complex is growing. It was five last week, per Judah, but he said there were eight - maybe more - today.

No matter where or when the Sox get a new stadium - and they will - it looks like it will be at least partially funded by private dollars.

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Sox to Sarasota? Still a Longshot

It’s been two months since the last update, but very little has changed in the Sox to Sarasota drama.  Sure, all the newspaper and TV headlines will have you believing there’s been a ton of action…but so much of what you’re seeing is propaganda.

Sarasota still doesn’t have the land or the money to give the Red Sox what they want (as we wrote three months ago on June 13)…and Lee County still wants to give the Sox a new complex to keep them around for another 30 years (as we wrote four months ago on May 28).

The one recent development is that a group of Lee Co. officials - now led by County Commissioner Ray Judah - got scared by the noise Sarasota was making.  Not necessarily progress…just noise.

Lee Co. is trying to bump up the timetable for a new mega-sports/entertainment complex, which has always seemed inevitable anyway.  But Sarasota officials still dominate the headline game, recently spending a night in the Red Sox’ luxury box at Tropicana Field. 

So why is that just noise instead of progress?  Because Sarasota is merely a pawn in the Sox’ chess match.  When two cities fight over a franchise’s services, the franchise wins everytime. 

The Red Sox - possibly the most popular team in America right now - believe they deserve a world-class facility.  City of Palms Park in Ft. Myers is nice, as would the proposed new stadium in Sarasota.  But neither is ideal.  Neither would give the team practice fields adjacent to the stadium and neither allows the team to build other money-makers on-site.

That’s why the team wants a mega-complex in Lee Co., but to get one completely financed on someone else’s dime, they need the competition.  You’ll remember when Sarasota’s bid was dying out a few months ago, Sox COO Mike Dee made a trip to Disney’s ESPN facility in Orlando.  That sure scared everyone around here…

Sarasota’s talking a big game right now but today’s Herald-Tribune points out another reason why it won’t be able to fund a new complex - it doesn’t have the cash to give the Sox 100% of revenues.  But Sarasota remains very important to the Red Sox - they’re giving them the leverage to get exactly what they want in Lee Co.

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Sox to Sarasota? Losing Steam…

Since we’ve said from the beginning that Sarasota’s dream of landing Red Sox spring training wasn’t much more than a pipe dream, this week’s news doesn’t really surprise us.  But while we knew they lacked the money and support to build a new stadium…we never thought the land would be an issue too.

To make a long-story short, the county wanted to put the Sox on Fruitville Rd., displacing the popular county fair.  However, they can’t find anywhere to put the fair, so that property is off the boards.  There are other places the Sox could play, but it is finally becoming obvious to the people of Sarasota that their county would have to pay way more to land the Sox than Lee Co. would have to pay to keep them.

Here are just a few of the stories spelling out Sarasota’s stadium troubles:
Sarasota needs to find the money
Sarasota money woes spark debate
Sarasota doesn’t need the Sox
Tax dollars don’t belong in stadiums

Also, a great one from a non-Sarasota story:
The great stadium boondoggle

Despite the troubles, you shouldn’t expect Sarasota to give up.  The county is trying to secure exclusive negotiating rights with the Sox through the fall, and even though the Sox rebuffed the thought a few months ago, they may actually do it now.  Why?  To keep both counties at the table longer.  The longer the Sox can stretch out this little poker game, the more they have to win.

The sad thing for residents of Sarasota Co. is that baseball is a great boon to the economy and several teams are shopping around for new homes, including the Orioles, who already have their minor-league home in Sarasota.  But the county is so fixated on the Red Sox, they could lose the opportunity to have anyone play there in 2010, 2011, and maybe longer.

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Sox to Sarasota? Still All Speculation

So the newest buzz around town is that Lee Co. is stepping up its effort to keep the Red Sox.  I read several places today that Lee Co. Parks & Rec. Director John Yarborough wants to bring a Fenway-like stadium to SWFL by 2012.

Guess what?  I want to bring a life-size Fenway replica to my backyard too!  However, my condo association would throw a fit.

Similarly, a Lee Co. official sharing his “dream” doesn’t make it news.  There still hasn’t been a single vote taken, a single study launched, or a single plan drawn up for renovations in Lee Co.  Why not?  There’s simply no rush.  Sarasota has a million hurdles to clear before it can make a proposal too.

So you think the possibility of a new Red Sox stadium elsewhere in Lee Co. is news-worthy?  OK, but maybe when we reported it two months ago…or again one month ago…but not so much today.  Sure, the county has spoken to the Red Sox about their future needs…but they’ve been doing it for years, not for the last few days as Wednesday morning’s headlines will have you believe (bold prediction).

It’s only a matter of time before Lee Co. starts putting the (slow and methodical) wheels in motion for a new Sox stadium, but it’s probably also only a matter of time before news readers/viewers grow bored of the false alarms.

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Sox to Sarasota? “What if…”

If the city of Sarasota had a dime for every “what if” scenario bandied about this summer, it wouldn’t have any trouble raising $70M to lure the Red Sox from their spring training home in Ft. Myers.

The latest example of superfluous speculation without much sustenance is a “breaking news” article in today’s Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Stadium on the Bay? It seems the proponents of spending tax money on a professional team - the same people who were shot down by county voters twice - are waging their war through the media. Here’s how the articles read to me:

Breaking news today as another Red Sox fan in Sarasota has come up with a way to build a new mega-stadium. The location would be ideal as long as the traffic nightmares, infastructure shortcomings, and budget shortfalls can be ignored. And as long as the current owners of the proposed property get behind the cause and donate it to the county.

We’ve seen column after column wondering how the city may get the Sox to leave Ft. Myers in 2010. And also how Ft. Myers is scrambling to find other teams to replace the Sox if they leave. And how Lee Co. is dropping the gloves to fight for its team. And how hundreds of people (out of 600,000 in the county) are making their voices heard!

However, we haven’t seen much of anything regarding all of Sarasota’s giant hurdles to clear before even making a pitch to the Sox (see my previous postings). Or the terrific behind-the-scenes work of Lee Co. officials to block Sarasota’s efforts to get state money for a new stadium. With all the “Sox-to-Sarasota?” talk in the local media these days, you - the viewer/reader - should know that we’re still a long way off from any of the parties making substantial progress in this chess match.

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Sox to Sarasota? The Voice of Reason

A lot of buzz is surrounding Sarasota’s efforts to steal Red Sox’ spring training from Fort Myers, but once again, members of Red Sox Nation in Lee Co. have no need to panic yet.

Even as residents of Sarasota form a grass-roots group, “Citizens for Sox,” to try and rally support for a new stadium deal there, there remain an incredible number of hurdles for Sarasota to replace their departing spring training team (the Arizona-bound Cincinnati Reds).

1. Lack of community support.  The 300 excited “Citizens for Sox” who attended the group’s first rally are just a drop in the bucket when it comes to the general population of Sarasota County.  The voters there have already turned down a $16M referendum to keep the Reds in-town…now the city and county want $70M for a new team?  Most elected officials there have said they won’t commit any taxpayer dollars to baseball without constituents’ approval.
2. Lack of funds.   One of the few places hit as hard by the housing crisis as Lee Co. is Sarasota Co.  A huge drop in property values - and thus tax income - is destroying every firehouse, police station, and public works department in the county.  Paraphrasing what I saw one interested party write on a message board, “$70M to for a professional sports team?  Hope they patrol the streets and repave the roads too!”  The best plan I’ve seen so far to raise the necessary funds relies on an increase in the hotel tax.  However, it would only raise about $40M over 20 years….well-short of the $70M Sarasota would need RIGHT NOW to get a deal done.
3. Lack of land.  Sarasota is eyeing a plot of land where the very popular county fair is currently held.  However, in addition to several other buildings on the property, the fair itself provides a great challenge to the stadium plan.  Because of their lease with the fair, the county would need to find new land for the fair to be held, then convince fair organizers to move there.  Since the relationship between county and fair officials has been strained in recent years, this is more easily said than done.  In fact, Lee Co. Deputy Manager Bill Hammond - the same guy who helped bring the White Sox to Sarasota in the 70’s - believes $70M may not be enough to satisfy both the Red Sox and fair officials.
4. Lack of momentum.  Unfortunately for Sarasota’s politicians, they won’t steal the Sox simply by generating headlines.  They’ve done very little groundwork so far on raising real funds- all they’ve accomplished is spending tens of thousands of dollars on studies to see if the Sox would be profitable and if the fair can be relocated.  Sarasota also lacks the positive relationship Lee Co. has with the franchise.  Because of their incident-free history with the Sox, Lee Co. and Fort Myers will have every opportunity to match Sarasota’s stadium proposal.

To borrow a line from the O.A.R song of the same name, “that was a crazy game of poker.”  It’s no shock that the Red Sox are playing both cities for the best-possible deal.  That’s just what you do in business (The Boston Globereports that Vero Beach’s efforts to get involved in the competition were politely declined).   And right now, Fort Myers is calling Sarasota’s bluff.

That said, I expect the competition to reap big benefits for the Sox.  I think Sarasota will manage to put together an offer somewhat short of their $70M vision and Lee Co. will retaliate with a deal for a new Sox stadium - bigger and fancier than City of Palms Park - sometime next decade.  It should keep the team, its $30M+ annual impact, and its huge charity donations in Lee Co. through 2030 or so.

It won’t be cheap, but hopefully the economy rebounds by then and everyone in metro Fort Myers can look back and thank the Red Sox for contributing to the recovery. 

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Red Sox to Sarasota? The Real Deal…

Journalism is a delicate thing. When the proper ethics and standards aren’t exercised - the public becomes misinformed and sometimes panicked. Sensationalist reporting has become a plague to our business.

That’s why I’m proud to say that for the third time in a month, ABC 7 was the only news outlet in Southwest Florida to sort out the facts from the rumors in the Red Sox Spring Training saga.

Last month, when Sarasota first started to chase the Sox and other media outlets were reporting they could leave Fort Myers in 2013, ABC 7 was the only outlet to actually get the team’s lease with the county and discover that they could leave Fort Myers in 2010.

Last week, when everyone else was reporting that Red Sox GM Theo Epstein was�in Sarasota to scout out a possible new stadium - we were the only outlet to contact the Sox and find out he was just there (so they say) on a routing scouting trip to watch a couple of high schoolers in the state finals.

And last night, following a report in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune that the county was going to try and put a $70M stadium package together to lure the Red Sox away from Lee Co., we were the only outlet in SWFL to show restraint with the rumors and cast some doubt on Sarasota County’s ability to follow through with the plan.

While other outlets were touting “a new 70-million-dollar plan,” we pointed out that Sarasota County was unable to get a $40M plan approved (twice) to keep their current team, the Reds…and�that was just a couple of months ago.

Sarasota’s problem is that several county comissioners have refused to dedicate tax dollars to a professional team when their roads, fire departments, and police stations need it more.

Personally, I think spring training is a terrific investment since the Sox bring $25-30M each spring to the local economy, but politicians will be politicians.

Don’t get me wrong - there is news value to Sarasota’s dealings.  The Reds will leave them after 2009 and they’ll be desperate for a team. They can also offer Boston a centralized training site (right now, the Sox’ practice fields are several miles from their stadium) and the opportunity to bring their single-A affiliate to the Florida State League (right now, Minnesota’s affilate, the Ft. Myers Miracle, own the territorial rights to Lee Co.).

However, the Sox are extremely happy in Ft. Myers and welcome this competition to help get them a bigger, better site in Lee Co. sometime next decade.  You’re more likely to see a new 12,000- to 15,000-seat Sox stadium in Lee Co. than Sarasota Co.  The Sox also say the location of their Single-A affiliate won’t factor into their spring training plans and when Sarasota tried to get them to sign a 90-day exclusive bargaining agreement - they balked.

I spoke with Lee County Manager Bill Hammond today and he says that he’s not worried because Sarasota’s dream is just that…a dream.  He said the latest $70M number thrown out isn’t enough to rebuild a MLB-ready complex on the county fairgrounds where the White Sox used to train.  He should know - he helped lure the White Sox there in the 1970’s.

ABC 7 don’t plan on snoozing on this story, but you don’t need to start losing any sleep over it either. While Sarasota will somehow find a way to make a run at the Sox, it will take a lot of time, a ton of money, and maybe even more luck for them to field a competitive offer.

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More on McCready/Clemens…

Several news agencies, including Fort Myers’ own News-Press, published reports today confirming what ABC-7 first reported last week:  Roger Clemens did not have a relationship with a 15-year-old Mindy McCready back in 1991.

Columnist Sam Cook spoke to McCready’s old roommate who claims she was with the country singer when she met the pitching star for the first time - in 1993. 

While Clemens admitted to “mistakes in his personal life,” we knew it couldn’t have included a relationship with a 15-year-old from North Fort Myers in 1991 (when he was 28, as McCready suggested) - the Red Sox didn’t train in SWFL until 1993, and as we proved in our story, Clemens never would have been in this part of the state.

Too bad the national media doesn’t read this blog before convicting the should-be-Hall-of-Famer…

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Don’t Worry, Sox Not Leaving

Despite the Red Sox’ admission that they explored a spring training opportunity in Sarasota, members of Red Sox Nation South need not worry.  These kind of “explorations” happen all the time (right Cape Coral?  right Bonita Springs?) and- according to my sources with the team - the Red Sox have very little reason to leave Ft. Myers.

Boston has sold out City of Palms Park 73 straight times, their stadium and clubhouses are better-than-average, and the only thing the franchise could possibly want more would be a single site for all their teams (compared to their current situation where the major-league and minor-league squads train on different ends of Edison Ave.).

All of that said, we did some digging into the fine print of the Sox’ lease with Lee Co.   While the agreement lasts through at least 2018*, they could buy out after next spring.  The cost of the buyout?  One million dollars.  A lot to you or me…but to the Red Sox, it represents about 11 innings from Josh Beckett…seven at-bats from Manny Ramirez…or a 15-day DL stint for J.D. Drew.

So, while it would be easy enough for the Sox to leave, if it ain’t broke, they probably won’t fix it.  Sarasota seems to be getting a pretty nice package together for a new team to replace the recently-departed Reds…but it will be equally nice for a team like Baltimore or Washington - teams aren’t in love with their training situations on Florida’s East Coast.

Don’t worry Sox fans….your team isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

*Interesting note - the Sox and Lee Co. agreed to a 15-year lease extension in 2004, lasting until 2019.  However, that’s 16 years.  Go ahead, do the math.  It is a typo in the lease that never got fixed.  Everyone is aware of it but doesn’t seem too concerned - an extension or buyout is likely before then.  So while some may say the current lease runs through 2018…it actually runs through 2019.  It just depends who you ask.

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